Xbox One to launch in Japan on September 4

Microsoft teases "Halo for Xbox One" but is quiet on JRPGs and apps.

On September 4, Microsoft's Kinect-attached Xbox One will try once again to annoy Japanese gamers who live in small living rooms.

This morning, Microsoft Japan announced that the Xbox One will launch in Japan on September 4, nearly 10 months after its North American and European counterparts. In addition to listing 48 companies as "registered" Xbox One publishers for the country, Microsoft also announced (in Japanese) first-party games slated for Japanese release, including 2013 launch titles Forza Motorsport 5, Dead Rising 3, and Ryse: Son of Rome, along with upcoming games Sunset Overdrive and the tentatively titled "Halo for Xbox One."

The 48 listed publishers include Japanese heavyweights like FromSoftware (Dark Souls), Level-5 (Professor Layton), and Atlus (Persona), along with Western companies like Electronic Arts, Bethesda, and Ubisoft. However, Microsoft's official list of games announced thus far was light in JRPGs and other popular Japanese series, with the exception of Kingdom Hearts III, Final Fantasy XV, D4, and Metal Gear Solid V's two releases.

What's more, today's news failed to mention the living room hub features that Microsoft's Western promotional push has so largely revolved around, so we're left to wonder which media apps the Japanese Xbox One will support at launch.

Today's list of games, along with the first-party offerings listed above, didn't come with price or date information, and the vague reference to "Halo for Xbox One" didn't clarify whether to expect Halo 5, an anniversary edition of Halo 2, or an entirely different Halo entry. (At the very least, it won't be Halo: Spartan Assault, which received its own spot on the upcoming release list.)

Microsoft tried with the Xbox (they had their own japan game studio) and 360 (Mistwalker) but really never got any heavy hitters or exclusives. Plus I imagine brand loyalty is bigger in Japan for Sony while Sony had it established since the PSOne.

Phantom Dust is a great Xbox game (developed by Microsoft Game Studio Japan, brought overseas by Majesco for $20).

I don't see why Microsoft even bothers with Japan, unless they shrink it down so it will fit in your pocket Japan doesn't seem to care.

All the new consoles have launched globally, but the PS4 launched more globally than the Xbox One (47 countries vs 14 or something like that).

One could say the same of Windows Phone in almost everywhere but it's still around too. It's probably around to remind people of the brand and Microsoft. If no one knows about Microsoft, then it becomes harder to break into the market with other products in the future.

Microsoft tried with the Xbox (they had their own japan game studio) and 360 (Mistwalker) but really never got any heavy hitters or exclusives. Plus I imagine brand loyalty is bigger in Japan for Sony while Sony had it established since the PSOne.

Phantom Dust is a great Xbox game (developed by Microsoft Game Studio Japan, brought overseas by Majesco for $20).

That was a fantastic game. Microsoft really needs to do HD remakes of the games they made and bring them to Windows... Release on Steam or the Windows Store.

I don't see why Microsoft even bothers with Japan, unless they shrink it down so it will fit in your pocket Japan doesn't seem to care.

All the new consoles have launched globally, but the PS4 launched more globally than the Xbox One (47 countries vs 14 or something like that).

One could say the same of Windows Phone in almost everywhere but it's still around too. It's probably around to remind people of the brand and Microsoft. If no one knows about Microsoft, then it becomes harder to break into the market with other products in the future.

That unfortunately seems to be all they're doing lately, reminding people that "we're still here!" in the background...

I cannot see Microsoft doing well.Non portable game consoles have not been doing well in Japan.

Here's Japan sales charts for PS4 week to week so far.309.15465.68535.29429.677 30.20123.327(Sales tax hike from 5% to 8% went into effect either now or a week before)13.40113.03414.396

Ten weeks and 534,169 sold so far.Latest info was from the 14th to 20th, Final fantasy XIV launched on the PS4 on the 14th and it sold 31k games.I wish Microsoft luck but the odds are against them.Hopefully it'll do better than the 360 though.It launched in Japan on April 2, 2006 and has sold a total of 1,643,700 consoles so far.

Now that the Xbox and PS4 architectures are much more similar it seems like a much easier sell for developing multi-platform games in Japan (or anywhere really), especially if MS is giving out marketing assistance and other subsidies.

Maybe the fans of the Blazblue franchise who know it through the Xbox consoles will finally get BB: Chrono Phantasma instead of getting kicked in the face by Arc System Works when said they weren't going to release it for the 360 (they finally came out last month and said they weren't releasing it for the 360 because they'd have to compress it to the point of where they feel it would be an inferior product. It's bs excuse imo, but at least Arc said they'll consider making a port for XB1 once it [finally] gets to Japan).

Sorry, please ignore my grumbling about one studio screwing over a good chunk of its international fanbase.

So now it looks like I'll probably have to wait until sometime in 2015 and get an Xbox One in order to finally play BBCP... fan-f***ing-tastic.

Microsoft tried with the Xbox (they had their own japan game studio) and 360 (Mistwalker) but really never got any heavy hitters or exclusives. Plus I imagine brand loyalty is bigger in Japan for Sony while Sony had it established since the PSOne.

Phantom Dust is a great Xbox game (developed by Microsoft Game Studio Japan, brought overseas by Majesco for $20).

My friends and I loved playing the demo for that back in the day, sadly they took so long in porting it over that most of them never picked it up...

I'm not so certain Microsoft will have a great launch in Japan, given their selection of games currently however...

I cannot see Microsoft doing well.Non portable game consoles have not been doing well in Japan.

Here's Japan sales charts for PS4 week to week so far.309.15465.68535.29429.677 30.20123.327(Sales tax hike from 5% to 8% went into effect either now or a week before)13.40113.03414.396

Ten weeks and 534,169 sold so far.Latest info was from the 14th to 20th, Final fantasy XIV launched on the PS4 on the 14th and it sold 31k games.I wish Microsoft luck but the odds are against them.Hopefully it'll do better than the 360 though.It launched in Japan on April 2, 2006 and has sold a total of 1,643,700 consoles so far.

Japan is basically a prestige release. There's no reason to believe that it will do better than the last 2, and not much to recommend it over an PS4 (no matter which country you live in). I bet Microsoft would be happy if releasing there wasn't a loss.

It's kind of like when Dragon Quest is released in the US. Yeah, there are fans, but it just isn't the same loyalty as in Japan. As a company you do it anyhow, because you already have the product and you want to say that you did it.

Getting the developers onboard probably isn't all that hard. The architecture between the two systems is similar, and similar to a PC as well. Plus, I'm sure at least some of those games will be released in other countries, like the US, where it isn't a XB1 wasteland.

Why are they waiting so long??Its not like they don't have enough stock.

My guess? The Kinect Voice recognition. It only works in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

And Microsoft has been hyping the Kinect so much, that voice control is the number one feature on the Xbox One. They cannot launch in countries where voice recognition doesn't work, or they'll be ridiculed.

Why are they waiting so long??Its not like they don't have enough stock.

My guess? The Kinect Voice recognition. It only works in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

And Microsoft has been hyping the Kinect so much, that voice control is the number one feature on the Xbox One. They cannot launch in countries where voice recognition doesn't work, or they'll be ridiculed.

It works in portuguese too.

But not the "Xbox on" command. For some reason, that only works in english, german and french, I think.

Why are they waiting so long??Its not like they don't have enough stock.

My guess? The Kinect Voice recognition. It only works in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

And Microsoft has been hyping the Kinect so much, that voice control is the number one feature on the Xbox One. They cannot launch in countries where voice recognition doesn't work, or they'll be ridiculed.

Microsoft tried with the Xbox (they had their own japan game studio) and 360 (Mistwalker) but really never got any heavy hitters or exclusives. Plus I imagine brand loyalty is bigger in Japan for Sony while Sony had it established since the PSOne.

Phantom Dust is a great Xbox game (developed by Microsoft Game Studio Japan, brought overseas by Majesco for $20).

It's not just Japan.

I think the 360 beat the PS3 in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Everywhere else, the PS3 did better. Overall, they came out fairly close (with the PS3 winning, despite the 360's 1 year head start).

I cannot see Microsoft doing well.Non portable game consoles have not been doing well in Japan.

Here's Japan sales charts for PS4 week to week so far.309.15465.68535.29429.677 30.20123.327(Sales tax hike from 5% to 8% went into effect either now or a week before)13.40113.03414.396

Ten weeks and 534,169 sold so far.Latest info was from the 14th to 20th, Final fantasy XIV launched on the PS4 on the 14th and it sold 31k games.I wish Microsoft luck but the odds are against them.Hopefully it'll do better than the 360 though.It launched in Japan on April 2, 2006 and has sold a total of 1,643,700 consoles so far.

However, Microsoft's official list of games announced thus far was light in JRPGs and other popular Japanese series, with the exception of Kingdom Hearts III, Final Fantasy XV, D4, and Metal Gear Solid V's two releases.

That sums up why the Xbox will always fail in Japan, and always have strong sales in the United States of Call of Duty.

I cannot see Microsoft doing well.Non portable game consoles have not been doing well in Japan.

Here's Japan sales charts for PS4 week to week so far.309.15465.68535.29429.677 30.20123.327(Sales tax hike from 5% to 8% went into effect either now or a week before)13.40113.03414.396

Ten weeks and 534,169 sold so far.Latest info was from the 14th to 20th, Final fantasy XIV launched on the PS4 on the 14th and it sold 31k games.I wish Microsoft luck but the odds are against them.Hopefully it'll do better than the 360 though.It launched in Japan on April 2, 2006 and has sold a total of 1,643,700 consoles so far.

Why are they waiting so long??Its not like they don't have enough stock.

My guess? The Kinect Voice recognition. It only works in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

And Microsoft has been hyping the Kinect so much, that voice control is the number one feature on the Xbox One. They cannot launch in countries where voice recognition doesn't work, or they'll be ridiculed.

It works in portuguese too.

But not the "Xbox on" command. For some reason, that only works in english, german and french, I think.

Why are they waiting so long??Its not like they don't have enough stock.

My guess? The Kinect Voice recognition. It only works in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

And Microsoft has been hyping the Kinect so much, that voice control is the number one feature on the Xbox One. They cannot launch in countries where voice recognition doesn't work, or they'll be ridiculed.

They can, they have and they were indeed ridiculed.

They launched here in Ireland with voice commands forcibly disabled, despite 99%+ of people here speaking English. The feature can be hacked by changing the region to UK, which disables the store, but voice commands then work, with the same ~80% accuracy as reported elsewhere.

I dont see PC gaming (read: Windows) going over well in Japan. The culture in Japan emphasizes quality, and in my opinion, Windows 8 isn't.

Yeah, despite the fact that Japan has a very vibrant adult Windows PC game industry worth 22 billion yen in 2013 and an online gaming market worth 140 billion yen domestically, PC gaming is so dead in Japan and Windows 8 is going to be the final nail in the coffin! Oh wait....

Just because the Japanese gamers don't play the same games as the Western counterparts, doesn't mean they don't use Windows PC for games, there's also nothing which stops those games being run on Windows 8 either, or people could just go buy Windows 7. So please take your OS fanboyism elsewhere.

However, Microsoft's official list of games announced thus far was light in JRPGs and other popular Japanese series, with the exception of Kingdom Hearts III, Final Fantasy XV, D4, and Metal Gear Solid V's two releases.

The 360 had some exclusive JRPGs like Blue Dragon and Last Odyessy but it didn't help them, they had some pretty otaku-centric games as well and that didn't help them either. Heck they even snagged Monster Hunter Frontier as an exclusive and that didn't do anything. The problem is that no matter what the XBox will be the inferior brand to the PlayStation in Japan and nothing will change that except if all the Japanese publishers decides to stop developing for PlayStation tomorrow. Otherwise all the Japanese gamers automatically assumes that everything will eventually turn up on the PlayStation so they have no incentive to buy a XBox.

I dont know, but i believe this time the one might have a chance to surpass the 360 and the original xbox, and could compete with WiiU, because it has games that cater to the male japanase otaku crowd, like titanfall and dead rising, especially titanfall for the big mechas and all that.

If they play their cards well, alongside good with JRPG games, they might have a shot with all this third party support, that was lacking with their two previous console. It will be interesting times, Nintendo should watch closely this development.

<snip>Japan's thing right now seems to be handhelds. I hope they will eventually turn to PC, though.[/quote]I doubt the PC will never be mainstream in Japan. Too many people don't have enough living space to own a decent setup.

I fully expect the XBox One to do even worse than the 360 for the same reason.[/quote]

That brings up a good question, how well does the new kinect work at short distances? I read that the 360 kinect was pretty bad if you got too close to the TV and people were moving their couches around to game (not an option if the apts in Japan are mostly like my brother-in-law's). I'm genuinely curious, I don't have either MS console.

Why are they waiting so long??Its not like they don't have enough stock.

My guess? The Kinect Voice recognition. It only works in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

And Microsoft has been hyping the Kinect so much, that voice control is the number one feature on the Xbox One. They cannot launch in countries where voice recognition doesn't work, or they'll be ridiculed.

It works in portuguese too.

But not the "Xbox on" command. For some reason, that only works in english, german and french, I think.

Microsoft tried with the Xbox (they had their own japan game studio) and 360 (Mistwalker) but really never got any heavy hitters or exclusives. Plus I imagine brand loyalty is bigger in Japan for Sony while Sony had it established since the PSOne.

Phantom Dust is a great Xbox game (developed by Microsoft Game Studio Japan, brought overseas by Majesco for $20).

It's not just Japan.

I think the 360 beat the PS3 in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Everywhere else, the PS3 did better. Overall, they came out fairly close (with the PS3 winning, despite the 360's 1 year head start).

Let's not forget that the 360 sales were goosed by people needing replacements. It really hit its stride in the last couple of years with Kinect, though. Pity they can't do BC and keep it going.

I dont know, but i believe this time the one might have a chance to surpass the 360 and the original xbox, and could compete with WiiU, because it has games that cater to the male japanase otaku crowd, like titanfall and dead rising, especially titanfall for the big mechas and all that.

MS doesn't have any chance, period. As I've said the only chance MS is ever going to get is if all Japanese publishers announces that they will stop making games for the PlayStation tomorrow.

Also I don't think you understands what "male Japanese otaku" is. You average male Japanese otaku is the anime/manga loving crowd that eats, sleeps and breath their staple Japanese art style, things like Dead Rising and Titanfall which is strongly Western style is the exact opposite of that and they don't find them interesting. Also Dead Rising had always been an XBox timed exclusive - didn't do anything for the 360 last generation. The original XBox also had THE ultimate mecha game Tekki/Steel Battalion, again didn't do anything for the XBox (the Japanese have a very particular style towards mecha anyway which is different to the Western style, very generally speaking Japanese mecha are usually agile like humans whereas Western mecha are tanks on legs, translate this into game speech and you will see why Titanfall is not what Japanese otakus want for their mecha game). The 360 also didn't lack the real "male Japanese otaku" games that you want to talk about like Idolmaster, Dream C Club, or a few of the staple JRPG like Tales series etc. Again, didn't do anything for the XBox.

Having worked in the Japanese gaming industry before and was actually there when Japan launched the PS3/XBox360 the only people I know who buys XBoxes were the hardcore of the hardcore gamers or works in the gaming industry. Those people would have already imported one due to various reasons such as poor localization and the over-the-top censorship body that is CERO which nerfs all the Western games. Sadly these people are probably 5% of the Japanese gaming population.

Quote:

If they play their cards well, alongside good with JRPG games, they might have a shot with all this third party support, that was lacking with their two previous console. It will be interesting times, Nintendo should watch closely this development.

Not going to happen. Especially since the Japanese developers already had a long history of preferring to develop for the PlayStation, combined with the fact that this generation the PS4 is easier to develop for with more powerful hardware, the XB1 is going to be in an even tougher position then before.

Now you may think then why is it that the Japanese publishers are onboard the XBox? That's an easy answer - they also know that the Japanese domestic market is shrinking whereas the Western market is growing, and coming in from that angle you simply cannot ignore the presences of the XB1, especially in the NA market.

I dont know, but i believe this time the one might have a chance to surpass the 360 and the original xbox, and could compete with WiiU, because it has games that cater to the male japanase otaku crowd, like titanfall and dead rising, especially titanfall for the big mechas and all that.

MS doesn't have any chance, period. As I've said the only chance MS is ever going to get is if all Japanese publishers announces that they will stop making games for the PlayStation tomorrow.

Also I don't think you understands what "male Japanese otaku" is. You average male Japanese otaku is the anime/manga loving crowd that eats, sleeps and breath their staple Japanese art style, things like Dead Rising and Titanfall which is strongly Western style is the exact opposite of that and they don't find them interesting. Also Dead Rising had always been an XBox timed exclusive - didn't do anything for the 360 last generation. The original XBox also had THE ultimate mecha game Tekki/Steel Battalion, again didn't do anything for the XBox (the Japanese have a very particular style towards mecha anyway which is different to the Western style, very generally speaking Japanese mecha are usually agile like humans whereas Western mecha are tanks on legs, translate this into game speech and you will see why Titanfall is not what Japanese otakus want for their mecha game). The 360 also didn't lack the real "male Japanese otaku" games that you want to talk about like Idolmaster, Dream C Club, or a few of the staple JRPG like Tales series etc. Again, didn't do anything for the XBox.

Having worked in the Japanese gaming industry before and was actually there when Japan launched the PS3/XBox360 the only people I know who buys XBoxes were the hardcore of the hardcore gamers or works in the gaming industry. Those people would have already imported one due to various reasons such as poor localization and the over-the-top censorship body that is CERO which nerfs all the Western games. Sadly these people are probably 5% of the Japanese gaming population.

Quote:

If they play their cards well, alongside good with JRPG games, they might have a shot with all this third party support, that was lacking with their two previous console. It will be interesting times, Nintendo should watch closely this development.

Not going to happen. Especially since the Japanese developers already had a long history of preferring to develop for the PlayStation, combined with the fact that this generation the PS4 is easier to develop for with more powerful hardware, the XB1 is going to be in an even tougher position then before.

Now you may think then why is it that the Japanese publishers are onboard the XBox? That's an easy answer - they also know that the Japanese domestic market is shrinking whereas the Western market is growing, and coming in from that angle you simply cannot ignore the presences of the XB1, especially in the NA market.

I agree with you to some extent, and i respect your opinion having knowladge on the Japanese videogame market first hand, but this is my opinion and why i said it might, thats the key word, i dont pretend to know just pointing out my way of thinking.

I have seen in recent years western games selling decently well in Japan, and i still believe, that titanfall with the mecha and the jump fast pace, might have the interest of the male otaku crowd, if other games with other themes did it, this might have the chance to do it also, and it might not, for the well put reasons you indicated, this of course applies as well with dead rysing, japanese people like most of other people like zombies in their enterteinment needs, but both have the chance to not entice the japanese market, but i believe they have a chance to do it, even if it is tiny.

In the end maybe you are right and im wrong, because you know more of that market, but please let me put, even if it is wrong my opinion here, and lastly appreciate your respond, it was a really good read. thanksedited: to correct the writing and to add some points to further the point, sorry.